AMIR EXPRESSES DEEPEST CONDOLENCES ON TERROR ATTACKS

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Dead bodies of victims lie inside St Sebastian’s Church damaged in blast in Negombo, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka on April 21. More than two hundred were killed and hundreds more hospitalized with injuries from eight blasts that rocked churches and hotels in and just outside of Sri Lanka’s capital on Easter Sunday, officials said, the worst violence to hit the South Asian country since its civil war ended a decade ago. (AP)

At least 207 perish in Lanka blasts

No immediate claim of responsibility after churches, hotels hit

KUWAIT CITY, April 21, (Agencies): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent a cable Sunday to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, expressing deepest condolences over the attacks on hotels and churches in the capital Colombo which resulted in scores of deaths and injuries.

His Highness the Amir affirmed Kuwait’s strong condemnation of such heinous terror attacks, indicating that Kuwait is standing in solidarity with Sri Lanka and its people in this regard.

His Highness the Amir conveyed sentiments of sympathy towards the families of the victims, as well as praying for the swift recovery of those injured.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables.

Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim also sent a cable Sunday to the Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, expressing deepest condolences over the attacks on hotels and churches in the capital Colombo, resulted in scores of casualties and injuries.

Al-Ghanim affirmed Kuwait’s strong condemnation of such heinous terror attacks, indicating that Kuwait is standing in solidarity with Sri Lanka and its people in this regard.

Al-Ghanim conveyed sentiments of sympathy towards the families of the victims, as well as praying for the swift recovery of those injured.

So far, no Kuwaitis are reported either killed or injured in the attacks that ripped through the Sri Lankan capital, Ambassador Khalaf Bu Thuhair said Sunday.

The embassy in Colombo is in constant contact with local authorities to assure there are no Kuwaiti citizens among the victims, noted an embassy statement obtained by KUNA.

The statement also urged all citizens in Sri Lanka to be utmost vigilant and abide by instructions by local authorities.

The embassy provided the following numbers for emergency: 0094776655555, 0094767676629 and 0094773300077.

At least 207 people were killed and hundreds more wounded in eight bomb blasts that rocked churches and luxury hotels in or near Sri Lanka’s capital on Easter Sunday — the deadliest violence the South Asian island country has seen since a bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

Suspects

Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena described the bombings as a terrorist attack by religious extremists and said seven suspects had been arrested, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Wijewardena said most of the blasts were believed to have been suicide attacks.

The explosions collapsed ceilings and blew out windows, and the dead included worshippers and hotel guests. People were seen carrying the wounded out of blood-spattered pews.

The three bombed hotels and one of the churches, St Anthony’s Shrine, are frequented by foreign tourists, and Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary said the bodies of at least 27 foreigners were recovered. Sri Lankan TV said the dead included people from Belgium, China, Britain and the US.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the violence could trigger instability in Sri Lanka, a country of about 21 million people, and he vowed the government will “vest all necessary powers with the defense forces” to take action against those responsible for the massacre, “regardless of their stature.” The government imposed a nationwide curfew from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am.

The scale of the bloodshed recalled the worst days of the nation’s 26-year civil war, in which the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group from the ethnic Tamil minority, sought independence from Sri Lanka, a Buddhist-majority country. During the war, the Tigers and other rebels carried out a multitude of bombings.

Punish

The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, called on Sri Lanka’s government to “mercilessly” punish those responsible “because only animals can behave like that.”

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said 207 people were killed and 450 wounded.

The first six blasts Sunday morning took place nearly simultaneously at St Anthony’s Shrine, a Catholic church in Colombo, and three hotels in the city. The two other explosions occurred after a lull of a few hours at St Sebastian Catholic church in Negombo, a majority Catholic town north of Colombo, and at the Protestant Zion church in the eastern town of Batticaloa.

Three police officers were killed while conducting a search at a suspected safe house in Dematagoda, on the outskirts of Colombo. The occupants of the safe house apparently detonated explosives to prevent arrest, Wijewardena said.

Countries around the world condemned the attacks, and Pope Francis expressed condolences at the end of his traditional Easter Sunday blessing in Rome.

“I want to express my loving closeness to the Christian community, targeted while they were gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence,” Francis said.

Sri Lanka, a small island nation at the southern tip of India, has a long history with Christianity. Christian tradition holds that St Thomas the Apostle visited Sri Lanka and southern India in the decades after the death of Christ. The majority of the island’s Christians are Roman Catholic.

Local TV showed damage at the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels. The Shangri-La’s second-floor restaurant was gutted, with the ceiling and windows blown out. Loose wires hung and tables were overturned in the blackened space. From outside the police cordon, three bodies could be seen covered in white sheets.

Foreign tourists hurriedly took to their cellphones to text family and loved ones around the world that they were OK.

One group was on a 15-day tour of the tropical island nation, seeing such sites as huge Buddhist monuments, tea plantations, jungle eco-lodges and sandy beaches. The tour was supposed to end in Colombo, but tour operators said the group may skip the capital in light of the attacks. The tour started last week in Negombo, where one of the blasts struck.

“Having experienced the open and welcoming Sri Lanka during my last week traveling through the country, I had a sense that the country was turning the corner, and in particular those in the tourism industry were hopeful for the future,” said Peter Kelson, a technology manager from Sydney.

“Apart from the tragedy of the immediate victims of the bombings, I worry that these terrible events will set the country back significantly.”

Sri Lankan security forces defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009. The United Nations initially estimated the death toll from the civil war at 100,000, but a UN expert panel later said some 45,000 ethnic Tamils may have been killed in the last months of the fighting alone. Both sides were accused of grave human rights violations.

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